Tag: Medieval

Medieval Christians saw the lunar eclipse as a sign from God — but they also understood the science

Medieval Christians saw the lunar eclipse as a sign from God — but they also understood the science

by | Mar 10, 2025 | | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
This has been cited as evidence that some people believed that lunar eclipses were caused by magicians or moon-hungry monsters. However, it is important to remember this comes from a source written by an educated churchman who may have exaggerated evidence of superstitious beliefs in order to then condemn them. Yet even if we allow for these beliefs, the range of ideas surrounding lunar eclipses in medieval Europe reveal it was not the dark age of superstition and ignorance it is often assumed to have been.

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History’s Greatest Misconceptions Debunked

History’s Greatest Misconceptions Debunked

by | Jan 16, 2025 | , | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
From Napoleon being short to slaves building the pyramids, there are hundreds of common historical misconceptions floating around.
Sometimes deliberate propaganda attempts created by political enemies, and occasionally simple misunderstandings of the truth, people love to recite interesting facts and titbits about history, but not all of them are completely true.
Here are some of the most famous misconceptions about history you may have heard of, along with some surprising accurate revelations.

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What was the Medieval warm period?

What was the Medieval warm period?

by | Sep 2, 2024 | | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
The Medieval warm period is an asynchronous regional warming caused by natural (not human-driven) climatic variation, whereas we are facing a homogeneous and global warming caused by human activity releasing too much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

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How Star Wars’ Jedi were inspired by the Knights Templar

How Star Wars’ Jedi were inspired by the Knights Templar

by | Jul 23, 2024 | , | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Star Wars is once again in the spotlight and pulling on nostalgic heartstrings in the new Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, starring Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. The series follows members of the knightly order of Jedi as they are persecuted across the galaxy. What many might not know is the idea of the Jedi was heavily influenced by the real history of the Knights Templar.

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The birth of Ravenser Odd

The birth of Ravenser Odd

by | Jul 16, 2024 | | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
In 1290 there was an investigation into their complaint and the records of that investigation still survive. The people of Grimsby told the king’s investigators that in the time of King Henry III ‘a certain small island was born’, the distance of ‘one tide’ from Grimsby, and fishermen began to dry their nets there. One day a ship was wrecked on the island, and someone made a cabin from the wreckage and began to live there. That man, the first permanent resident of this new land, began to sell food and drink to passing sailors.

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The Curious Creation of the Crusader States

The Curious Creation of the Crusader States

by | Mar 26, 2024 | , | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
A major holy land for three of the world’s largest, most influential religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the area of the levant has long been hotly contested.
After several centuries of ownership and Christian domination under the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire, the holy land of Jerusalem and the surrounding area fell into the hands of the Muslims in 969 AD under the Fatimids, and later the Seljuq Turks.

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Swedish Viking hoard: how the discovery of single Norman coin expands our knowledge of French history

Swedish Viking hoard: how the discovery of single Norman coin expands our knowledge of French history

by | Feb 12, 2024 | , , | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
In the autumn of 2020, I was contacted by the field archaeology unit of the Swedish National Historical Museums, who are also known as the Archaeologists. They were excavating at a Viking-age settlement at Viggbyholm just north of Stockholm. During routine metal detecting of the site, they had located a very exciting find: eight silver necklaces and other silver jewellery along with 12 coins, everything delicately wrapped up in a cloth and deposited in a pot. In other words, a genuine Viking silver hoard.

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DNA reveals large migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age

DNA reveals large migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age

by | Jun 7, 2023 | , | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Viking age Scandinavia as a hub for migration from all over Europe.

In a study published in Cell, we show this is exactly what happened. The Viking period (late 8th century to mid 11th century) was the catalyst for an exceptional inflow of people into Scandinavia. These movements were greater than for any other period we analysed.

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New archaeology finding shows how Muslim cuisine endured in secret despite policing by the Spanish Catholic regime

New archaeology finding shows how Muslim cuisine endured in secret despite policing by the Spanish Catholic regime

by | Apr 17, 2023 | | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Granada, in southern Spain’s Andalusia region, was the final remnant of Islamic Iberia known as al-Andalus – a territory that once stretched across most of Spain and Portugal. In 1492, the city fell to the Catholic conquest.

In the aftermath, native Andalusians, who were Muslims, were permitted to continue practising their religion. But after a decade of increasingly hostile religious policing from the new Catholic regime, practising Islamic traditions and rituals was outlawed. Recent archaeological excavations in Granada, however, have uncovered evidence of Muslim food practices continuing in secret for decades after the conquest.

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